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Topic: New RE 500 rider from India (Read 9617 times)

Why don't you guys save your spare cash and really live it up - head for New Zealand!! It isn't that far!! And good roads, miles and miles of wonderful scenery, hills, mountains, lakes - and a thoroughly decent, helpful Enfield community to top it off! I'd be happy to chaperone you around - and the wives would love it too!!

Biddy

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LJRead

Or Tonga, 1200 miles to the north of New Zealand, and nice weather year round. Used to have a Honda 350 when I lived in Christchurch, S. Island, N.Z. About froze my buns off at times, but, my, that road up to Kaikoura with almost no traffic to worry about was so great! I have to say that New Zealand is a great place to ride and to kibitz with the friendly natives!

CH, good luck with the mirrors, the ones from the UK are probably made in India! Ask your dealer,,,you will probably get a huge choice in Karolbagh. From now to late Feb is high season in Goa, always a great place to ride a bike, though with the usual traffic hazards advisory. Very picturesque roads and villages/towns though. And great seafood! I doubt I can get away from work long enough to make it there this year, but I am giving very serious thought to Leh next season.KC, appreciate the offer! I have never visited NZ, only been up to Aus, which as any Kiwi would proclaim is not quite the same, I am sure! Always had plans to take a driving holiday there, to see the lord of the rings countryside by road. Hear that there are amazing drives to experience, but this is the first time I got to thinking of doing some of it on a Bullet. Could I hire one while I am there? I also assume that Dec - Jan would be a good time weatherwise? If your offer stands till then, my wife and I may get over there in a year from now!! LJ, Tonga does not seem to be very far from NZ now does it,,,not as much as it is from India! And you will have your T bird with you by then,,, Will be offline the rest of the week, have to leave on work travelling today,,,which means no RE,,,think I will suffer withdrawal symptoms,,,,,

There is a company here specialising in renting REs for touring.www.heartlandbiketours.co.nzAlthough doing this in the home of RE seems mighty appealing to me, I must say.

My new Electra gives me such a kick. I'm at 350km now, and the mirrors are now useable (narrow - I also see largely elbows, but the vibration that made them virtually unuseable has all bar ceased). You know, unlike the Ducati where I always felt sort of perched on top of the bike, I feel somehow melded with the RE when I ride.Biddy

I bet riding in the NZ mountains is amazing! I also have a dream of hunting red stag there. (hope the mention of hunting isn't taboo here)

Riding into the mountains on my Bullet with my .45-70 and taking one of those would be unbelievable. I don't know how I'd get it back, but I guess I don't have to have everything worked out for a fantasy.

Very interesting comment about the vibrations going down after the break in period. I'm at 780 kms. I'll give it to 1000 and see if there is improvement.

The most impressive part of the Bullet is just what you said......you loose track of the fact that you're riding a bike and it gets a bit zen. Except for my 2nd gear, which I have yet to master.

I completely agree with your idea of "progressive break-in" Hey, I see a lot of those auxiliary headlights on RE bikes when I check out Youtube. Do you have youtube? It is a great way to check out all sorts of things in action. You probably know all about it and I am insulting you and your countries' formidable intelligence. Sorry. Check it out if you haven't already. Anyway, about those headlights. I think I may want some but they seem to be unavailable here in the states. Could you enlighten me? Thanks, Jon, Seattle,Washington U.S.A.

hey indian48, I wanted to mention that when I got my bike I had engine lugging issues and it caused all sorts of problems. The plug kept getting fouled and I had a hard time getting it started, then it ran badly until warmed up. I asked many questions and seemed to get the same answers, which were not helping. One day I was riding down a road that had a speed limit sign that showed the speed you were actually going. My speed was 5 mile per hour slower than what the speedo was gauging. That does not seem like much but if you are breaking in the bike properly, at recommended speeds which are awfully slow at first this makes a massive difference. I started riding the bike 5mph faster in all gears, which put it at the real maximum speed in each gear and all my problems went away. I know you are probably using kilometers an hour over there but i am guessing the Kilo speedo is probably reading to high as well. Hope this helps.

Quite honestly, I am not paying that much attention to the speedo as I am to the extent of throttle opening and the engine sound as heard, and the minute I hear it lugging, I drop a gear to get the revs up again. On the other side, I make sure that I don't open the throttle more than halfway, and on the highway, keep shutting it off occassionally. I am certain that the manual recommendations are not meant to be followed if you know the science of running in better. For the riders who may not, the manual seeks to play it very safe.Re the headlights, I have not looked in detail at the online store,,they should be available in the US,,,let me know if you want me to look for them here and update you.

Hi there.Can you give me a good, clear description of your running in plan? I'm running in too, as you know, and so many of you are saying how critical it is to get that right - I think I am, but I'd like to know people's thoughts on the details.

Like the need for varying speed, as outlined in the owners manual - for how long? Just like riding through suburbs and regularly slowing for the lights? of for longer periods at slower speeds? etc.

Since we have a discussion going between people in different parts of the world, I'd like to ask about the conditions of the roads you are riding your various RE's on. I live in the southeastern US in a pretty rural area with plenty of paved roads but miles and miles of dirt roads that are sometimes the only feasible way to get from here to there. Rolling to hilly land but not mountainous. How do you all consider the riding experience and handling of your bike in places where conditions are less than ideal?

Would panniers be a problem in those conditions?Does the bike handle two-up riding well?

Newbie question that I think is answered somewhere, but I still have a doubt about - coming out of the bottom of the carb is a longish - 15 inch or so - thin, pink rubber tube that I found flapping around, not connected at the other end to anything at all is the way I found it. I have tucked it away towards the rear of the bike, from below the carb, till it comes out a little ahead of the right rear footpeg. Is that ok? What does that tube do and why is it needed? Why is it that the iron engine bike's carb does not seem to have it? I noticed that because I went across to one to see if I could get an answer, but that bike seemed not to have any such tube. My bike has the AVL engine, and I think it has a CV carb.Re the road conditions, remember that the REs current home is India, where you will find some of the worst road conditions in the world, that the bike copes with pretty well,,,provided it is well maintained. Panniers are not a problem, and in India people carry huge loads on it. Riding two up is fine as well, although it is not as suited to that as the big capacity bikes would be - there is not the power reserve in the engine to do that in a relaxed manner.

Biddy - attached in quotes, is a post that I left on the Indian site the day I purchased the bike in India, it probably answers your question:"I have just taken delivery of my new 500 RE today, and I am looking forward to the entire ownership process, starting with the running in. This is not something that one needs with other contemporary machines, either 4 wheels or 2, given the advances in machining and manufacturing technology in the last 30 years, that have passed RE/Bullets by, which, anyway is why I bought the Bullet in my return to 2 wheels for recreation - in preference to the plethora of sewing machines/food processors attached to two wheels that abound in India as well now.Re running in, in this case I am not surprised the piston seized - as described, the engine has really not been run in at all, being used the way described. Even if this regime was followed for 3000 km, and then the engine opened up on the highway and held open as it can be for a fully run in engine, the piston would still seize. From my memories of older times - when men were men (!!!) and engines needed to be run in - here are some principles as I remember them - for the benefit of all owners of new REs1. It is more important that the engine runs light, rather than road speeds are kept low - the worst thing you can do is to run at a speed in too high a gear - downshift earlier, rather than later. You can damage the engine permanently by running in 4th with the engine laboring when you really should have downshifted to 3rd - sooner rather than later. The engine may sound noisier in the 3rd gear, but it can take this treatment far better than laboring in 4th. I find on day 1, the 5th gear is almost a no no in any part of Pune. 2. Accelerate gently in the first 200kms, and progressively allow for more vigorous acceleration - regardless of which gear you are in.3. Do not keep the throttle open for long bursts in the first 200kms, and start extending the throttle open times as the kilometers mount, building up to full throttle bursts, in lower gears if that is all you have the road for.4. If you are on a highway, keep giving the engine a break to cool down by shutting the throttle at frequent intervals, but make sure that when you open it again, the engine is not laboring - downshift to ensure this.5. What you are trying to do is to do the final machining of the componentry inside to produce the high gloss of a well machined surface - and to do that you need to run high speeds with as light a loading as possible.6. Finally, all the metal that you will remove from the "rough" machined parts by the RE factory in the running in process is going to fall in the oil - the engine oil, the gearbox oil, and the clutch oil bath. To get this metallic swarf out of the way is why RE recommends an oil change at the 500km interval - and doing this is vital, vital, vital. I would even recommend very strongly that the oils be changed once again at the 1500- 2000km mark, even if RE does not recommend this. And when changing the oil, stand there to make sure that this is done when the oil is hot, so that all of it flows out, fully, with all the metallic rubbish floating in it. And of course, remember to ensure that filters are changed wherever relevant.I have missed this fun the last 20 years in the cars that I have bought, and the KB100 I used 15 years ago - and I am looking forward to the elbow grease that is so much the fun part of the Bullet!!Resident experts - have I missed anything??!! "On the Indian site, I did not get a single response to this post, I think that most folks there are more into how the bike looks and sounds, so that they are able to look different and cool! I am sure that this will get some interesting responses, starting with Dew probably, who is what may be called a contrarian - a lot of fun to everyone else by being that though, I must say!There is also a lot of other material on the subject on this site too, that you will find useful.The piston seizure referred to above was someone who had run in the bike well within the manual recommended speeds religiously, using the bike sparingly only on weekends, and once that regime was over, went on the highway, and ran the bike at close to full throttle for fifteen - twenty minutes, and had the piston seize on him.I have done just 450 kms on my bike till now, and things are going very well so far,,,touch wood!

Thanks very much. This is just what I wanted. It pretty much mirrors what I've been doing, except I haven't done any real opening up of the throttle, fast acceleration yet. But maybe now is the time to start building that up - I'm at 400kms. Next weekend for the 500km oil change, I think.

When is it OK to ride with a pillion, any thoughts?

My house in Auckland had a carport that was dismantled to allow for renovations just before I bought it. I thought I'd keep the Electra in the shed, but she doesn;'t fit. So I am rebuilding the carport now - I don't like knowing the bike is just under a tarp in the rain!

I see no reason to avoid a pillion at any time, I would just be careful by not expecting the one up acceleration to happen with the extra load on board, taking a little longer to upshift, and I would downshift earlier too, to make sure that the engine is never labouring/lugging under load. The underlying principles do not change.I understand entirely what you mean about housing the bike indoors!